Unresolved Mystery: Investigation Continues into Rio-Paris Fatal Flight

Aviation movement - Investigation into the fatal Rio-Paris flight shows no signs of concluding.

Nearly 15 years have passed since an Air France plane, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, plunged over a thousand meters into the Atlantic Ocean, claiming the lives of 228 people. Yet, the legal investigation into this horrific incident, which happens to coincide with its anniversary on Saturday, continues.

Both Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, and Air France, the airline, are back in court in Paris, facing charges of negligent homicide. The families of the victims find themselves in a state of limbo, oscillating between hope and disillusionment due to years of fruitless efforts to uncover the truth.

The Air France plane on flight AF 447 encountered a storm front on its journey from Rio to the French capital on June 1, 2009, and mysteriously disappeared from radar screens. The Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic. With 228 people losing their lives, including 28 Germans, the cause remained a mystery for an extended period. It wasn't until May 2011 that the last corpses and flight data recorder were retrieved from a depth of around 4,000 meters.

"Deceitful Stalling Strategy"

One of the victims was a 31-year-old woman named Ines. When her father, Bernd Gans from Vaterstetten in Bavaria, recalls the investigation into the ill-fated flight, he refers to it as "a deceitful stalling strategy"- for instance, the prolonged search for the wreckage and the legal back-and-forth. The fact that an appeals court eventually ordered Airbus and Air France to stand trial in 2021 on charges of involuntary manslaughter brought some solace to the German and French survivors, according to the 83-year-old chairman of the German survivors' group HIOP AF447.

However, both companies were acquitted just over a year ago. While they may have acted negligently or carelessly, the court ruled that it couldn't be definitively established that their neglect directly contributed to the crash, and therefore, it lacked relevance under criminal law. Gans criticizes this reasoning as arbitrary. The French survivors' organization Entraide et Solidarté AF447 described the verdict as beyond comprehension.

The trial centered around the question of whether Air France could've better prepared its pilots for extreme situations and whether Airbus had downplayed the consequences of Pitot probe failure. The probes responsible for measuring speed had frozen during the flight. An expert report from 2012 suggested that the crew was overpowered by a situation that was actually manageable.

However, Airbus and Air France steadfastly denied responsibility for the crash. Despite the acquittal, the verdict suggests that issues with the probes were not adequately addressed by Airbus, and information was withheld from Air France pilots.

To the relief of the bereaved, approximately 500 of whom were involved as plaintiffs, the public prosecutor's office appealed against the verdict. However, there is currently no set date for the appeal proceedings, according to legal sources.

Danièle Lamy of the French survivors' organization is extremely skeptical about the trial. "Should we, the families of the victims, go through the anguish of a futile and pointless legal battle once again?" She emphasizes that the victims would still pursue the goal of having their wrongdoings acknowledged and obtaining a guilty verdict.

Gans similarly anticipates a different outcome this time, particularly in light of the two Boeing 737-Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives. "Much like what happened there, consequences were drawn," Gans says. The planes were grounded.

Gans insists that aside from the legal battles, action should be taken regarding the issues with the probes reported prior to the tragic Rio-Paris flight. Before the accident, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) did not deem the safety risk high enough to mandate a grounding. Gans would thus like to see the former head of EASA, Patrick Goudou, held responsible.

Fines of up to 225,000 euros loom over Air France and Airbus in these proceedings. However, the bereaved are uninterested in financial penalties for the companies; they're solely interested in advancing aviation safety. "Now, it's no longer possible to just sweep things under the rug," Gans says. This case represents a shift in perspective - not just a time for remembrance, but also a time for contemplating the future of air traffic. "It can't be overstated that the courts are also addressing these issues," Gans concludes.

Gans and his wife intend to spend the anniversary of the crash away from the legal battle that surrounds the question of responsibility for the death of their daughter and 227 others. About a decade ago, they and their fellow mourners contributed organ pipes to a church in the name of their daughter Ines. "We feel a deep connection to our daughter there," Gans states.